Short film analysis The Heist

The Heist

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUjZV_Xt1xc

The Heist is a comedy/crime short film, which lasts for just over 9 minutes. During the narrative of the short film you follow the story of two incompetent young males who pull a armed robbery/heist on a warehouse. Where they believed there are jewels being stored however once they get in the warehouse they are shocked to find out that its not jewels but something a lot less rewarding. What makes the film a bit funny is that the characters are not your stereotypical robbers as they are not very well built and look a but weedy, also they wear the cloths that look out of place for the genre which makes the heist look a little ridiculous. 

The short film starts of with both of this males in a car and this is where the audiences really starts to see the characters relationship with each other which is a bit of a brother relationship because of the way they treat each other and how they look out for one enough. The film then quickly moves onto them going in the warehouse and  you get this longshot looking at them which just shows this is a big warehouse they also a uses a over the shoulder shot later on in the clip which really gives you this more action fill to the film which is also helped by the non-diegetic music. You also then coming out of the over the shoulder shot you have the person sweep around a corner and then the camera does the same which makes you as a viewer think your there alongside this person which intern makes the viewer seem part of the film. Moving on later in the clip you have the two people meet in the centre of the warehouse and in this scene the dialogue is really good because it shows you how it’s a comedy because just how they speak and treat each other. One of the other features which makes the scene comical apart from the dialogue is the there body posture and how they are acting with each other. 

The film is very good because though you have a range of camera shots and dialogue which makes the viewer fill part of the heist. At the start of the short film they uses a establishing shot to establish the location of the car park this also helps show the audience where the film is set. And truly I think the purpose of the film is to get you to think what if I tried to rob a warehouse could I do any better. It also gets to think about if you were to rob a warehouse who would you work with because this two charters where not the smartest however they were a team but the where not a good team as they were not the smartest however they did have trust in each other. Which makes you think do you have anyone you trust so much to undertake a heist.

Although the thing that makes this short film is the dialogue which really makes this short film a comedy. Also I keep going on about it however the dialogue really shows the relationship between the two people also the dialogue helps you relate to the characters as it starts to make you think of friends who re just like this two charters. Although the music gives this sense of action in the clip as its used to keep the film going at a nice fast pace. A example of a part of the film which I really fill like they used music to there advantage was were they used non-diegetic sound (music) when the two males where doing the heist this made the scene very donate however at the same time very fast paced. So, overall throughout the short film the music and dialogue really makes this short film interesting and makes you feel like you have a personal connection to the characters.

So, in conclusion this is a great example of a short film as it really shows no matter how long a film is you can still make the viewer really get to know and care about the characters through the use of sound (music and dialogue), narrative, camera work and editing.

Conventions of a Psychological thriller

Conventions of a Psychological thriller

Below is a section on each of the four most important sections of a psychological thriller.

Location: They’re typically two different locations for a psychological thriller, which is one in a big city, or set inside a houses. You can also some times find psychological thrillers being set in the country side however this is unlikely because it can be very easily confused with a horror film if it set in the county side. A film which I looked at which follows this convention is paranormal activity which is set in there home.

Lighting: In psychological thrillers you typically find the lighting is dark so then it can create a sense of tension and suspicion. You can also find the use the dark lighting to add shadows, which as to the tension however this does not happen to often as this is the border when it starts to slightly become a horror.

Costumes: The villain other wise now as the antagonist typically wears smart clothing for example a suit and not jeans. The costumes also normally suit the location so you would very unlikely find someone in an urban built up area wearing jeans and a shirt. The villain also typically wears black dark colours to represent mystery and to add suspicion. A example of this would be the main character in American Psycho who goes rounding a suit.

The hero or the protagonist is the opposite to this so he or she does not wear dark colours such as black instead the wear brighter coloured clothing which is or so more visually appealing.

Props: In psychological thrillers you typically find that they use mirrors to show the dark side of a charter and you sometimes have them talking to the mirror which shows a bit of madness. Also you can find in psychological thriller props are very often used to leave clues for the hero to find. This is also really good because it keeps the audiences interested as it keeps them thinking and engaged with the film.

Sound: When looking at psychological thrillers I found that most commonly they use a eerie and tense range of music which is used to build of the tension of the scene However this can also be used to create a shock for the audiences however the music can also be confused with a horror if not carful because both genres commonly use the same style of music because they are used sometime time to set the same scene this is why you need to be careful will using sound because you don’t want your film to be confused with another genre. However not a psychological thriller however Jaws has one of the best now sounds effects as it has its duh....duh...duh.duh sound track which really adds tension to the scene and also tells the audiences something is about to happen.

Research into film shots commonly used in a psychological thriller

Before researching short films in detail I decided to look at shots commonly used in film genres I was interested in to learn more about how cinematography can impact the audience. This will also help when we come to develop our own shot list.

In a lot of the films I research I found they used close up shots to show emotions from the character this emotions mostly anger or fear although my short film we could use a close up shot to show other emotions such as lust for the main charter Delcua. Although when I was doing this research I also found it does not matter what type of close up shot you have because each type is useful for showing  a emotion. I also found very often that the close up shots used in psychological thrillers are commonly taken in very dark lighting however this is just used to help establish the emotion behind the image.

A example of a film which really used close up shots to its advantage and showed the anger of the character is in the Shining in the Here's Johnny scene, it may not be a psychological thriller however when looking at psychological thrillers I very often found similarities between the genres.  Below is the clip that shows interesting use of close ups and framing...

One of the other main shots I found to be used a lot in psychological thrillers is a establishing shot which helps set out the location of a film a great example of this is in shutter island where you see the island which the film Is based around. t also helps establish the location of the film and shows the views where the story is taking places.

Although establishing shots do not always need to be used to establish a location instead they can be used to establish characters for example Avengers  is a great example of a establishing shot however it may be from a different genre of film however the concept is the same. Below is the establish shot from the avengers which after looking at the way they used a establishing shot to show of the characters it makes me think how could we do this in my groups short film.

What I found interesting in this last clip was not so much the shot types but the camera movement and camera angles as they have been used cleverly to add tension.

The Team

After talking to range of students in my class and the other media studies class I have found two people that I have decided to work with; Alex Pyrnne and Dan Goward. The reason I have chosen to work with them is because over the GCSE and A level courses I have worked well with Dan and I know he is a good team player who is good at practical tasks and have worked with Alex and know he is also good at practical work but is also a really good writer.

Below is a link to each of there own Blogs

Alex: http://alexanderprynne8230.blogspot.co.uk/

Dan: http://8139danielgoward.blogspot.co.uk/

Sadly, before the film really got going Dan quit college so he did not really have much to do with the film in the end.

Style & Genre Ideas

As this table from http://www.the-numbers.com/market/genres shows there are a lot of genres we could chose to work in for our short film that can be profitable and popular.

My first thought is that personally I am best suited to doing an action-thriller or horror, this is because in the past four years of media studies and photography I have created movies for both genres which were successful and I have some knowledge of the conventions we would have to use. Also, I believe fantasy and comedy and other such genres would be hard to create for example fantasy would involve a lot of special affects which I have no pervious experiences of and if done wrong they can just make the movie look tacky and to be blunt rubbish. Also with a comedy, yes it would be fun to do however to make a five minute film which is a comedy would be fairly hard as I do think I am funny.

But it is not just up to me so we discussed it as a group and thought that doing an physiological thriller could work for a professional looking short film, if it is what our audience wanted, because a hybrid film of this type could work and would not require difficult special effects which would make the production process a lot quicker than doing a film that requires a lot of CGI editing such as a sci-fi or fantasy.

How has changing in technology impacted the film industry?

Technological Advancement... 

Since the first ever film was captured over one hundred years ago (which was just a simple image of a house running) technology has advanced so much that the face of moving image has changed a lot. It has gone from black and white to colour, from reels to disks to digital. Theatre experiences have gone from 2D - 3D complete with surround sound. Home cinema technology now even lets you watch 3D and HD in your own home complete with surround sound and curved screens that give you a stunning image from every angle.

Digital convergence has also had a big impact because the film industry can now reach you anywhere even through your mobile phones - in short, thanks to technology you can watch and make a film just about anywhere and get it to an audience.

The advance in technology has meant anyone can make their own short film of a professional quality because in the last five plus years camera such as a DSLR have become cheaper and now anyone is able to afford them to make short film. For our short film will be learning and using four different Canon Digital SLR camera; the 1000D, 600D, 6D and 5D mark 3.

Also, with the development of technology we now have memory cards that can save hours of high quality footage and this makes production cheaper. Before this digital revolution film was shot on expensive reels that cost hundreds of pounds each to buy and develop which really made things hard for independent film makers. But thankfully things have change and this means my group and I will be able to afford to film hours of footage when in the past we could not have afforded to do it.

Due to digital technology develops editing has also changed. There are now so many different editing softwares such as IMovie, Final Cut, Premiere-Pro and AfterEffects to choose from editing a professional looking short film has never been so easy. Sound editing software has also got cheaper, I have even managed to find a few free version like Audacity to learn from.

All of this technology development over the last ten years has really made the public their own producers and this links to Guantlett's 2007 theory where he argues that; "new media has eroded the boundary between producer and the audiences," so we are now at a point when anyone can now be their own producer because the equipment you need to make a film has become a lot cheaper and easier to use and it is possible to reach a real audience online.

So, in conclusion the development of technology has meant that everything required to make a film/short film is now affordable to the public which ten years ago would never have been possible and this means my group and I have every chance of making a successful short film. 

Legal restraints

Legal Restraints

There are a number of legal restraints that I could need to bear in mind during the process of creating and writing my short film in terms of what age rating it could end up getting. The legal rules on copyright and on each age rating are as follows: 

Copyright:

·         The acquisition rights in the intellectual property (in short who owns the rights to the book, the script, the rights to the life story and the screenplay). This legal restraint does not affect my groups' short film as we will all write an original idea then pick the best one so we will own the rights.

Other Work/Film Related Things to Keep in Mind:
·         The legal guardian rights of any under aged crew members (this means parents or legal guardians must give there permission for there child to be filmed)
·         A written agreements which gives staff far working hours, the length of there employment, any compensation required and on screen credits for people such as screen writers and other crew members.
·         The secure releases of the location where film is taking but must be approved by property owner. This legal restraint meant we had to ask the school if we could film on there property so we could film on it for are short film as this was the main location filming took places.
·         Don’t use copyrighted music, unless the person or people have given you the rights to do so. For example for my groups short film we used a bands song and had to ask for there permission so we could use it in are short film.

The final legal side to films is the age ratings in the UK and America.

Which in the UK go as followed:

U (Which stands for Universal meaning anyone can watch it)

PG (Which stands for parental guidance’s this means its my be unsuitable for young children)

12 and 12a ( Which means its suitable for children from 12 above and sexual behaviour may be discreetly portrayed)

15 (Which is suitable for over 15’s and nudity and strong violence’s can be allowed) This is the zone which my groups short film will fall into as it includes strong violence however does not include nudity or drugs so does not fall under the 18 age rateing.

18 (Suitable for over 18’s and can involve strong langue, sex, nudity, drugs and strong violence’s)

R18 (This category is a special and legally restricted classification for films which involve consenting sex or strong material fetish.

The American age ratings are as followed:

G (everyone is allowed and suitable for all)

PG (parental guidance’s is needed other wises everyone is allowed)

PG 13 (you need to be over 13 or older)

R (You need to be 17 or older but you can have parental consent) In America my groups will fall into this age certificate because it is not suitable for PG 13 so it falls under the R rateing.

NC-17 or X (no one gets in unless they are 17)

In conclusion, I think I now know enough about the basic laws and regulations that could impact product so I will move onto the next part of my planning and research.